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Morphology

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Above weights are given for mature male giant sperm whales. Females only weigh about 1/3 as much as males. Males may reach 19 m while females are only 12 meters. Newborn calves measure about 4 m and are about 1/25 the weight of females.

The enormous (up to 1/3 of total body length), box-like head of Physeter catodon sets it apart from all other species. The head contains a spermaceti organ whose function is not entirely known. It may serve to focus and reflect sound or may be a cooling organ to diminish the whale's volume and its buoyancy during prolonged dives. The giant sperm whale has the largest of mammalian brains in terms of sheer mass (approximately 9 kg). The blowhole slit is S-shaped and positioned on the left side of the head. There are 18-28 functional teeth on each side of the lower jaws, but the upper teeth are few, weak and nonfunctional. The lower teeth fit into sockets in the upper jaw. The gullet of Physeter catodon is the largest among cetaceans; it is in fact the only gullet large enough to swallow a human.

The dorsal fin is replaced by a hump and by a series of longitudinal ridges on the posterior part of the back, and the pectoral fins are quite small, approximately 200 cm. long. Tail flukes are 400-450 cm. The blubber layer of the giant sperm whale is quite thick, up to 35 cm. With respect to coloration, males often become paler and sometimes piebald with age. Both sexes have white in the genital and anal regions and on the lower jaws.

Range mass: 35000 to 50000 kg.

Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry

Sexual Dimorphism: male larger

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Life Expectancy

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Average lifespan
Status: wild:
77.0 years.

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Habitat

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Sperm whales swim through deep waters to depths of 2 miles, apparently limited in depth only by the time it takes to swim down and back to the surface. Their distributions are depend upon season and sexual/social status, however they are most likely to be found in waters inhabited by squid- at least 1,000 m deep and with cold-water upswellings. Because they are so well-adapted for deep water swimming, they are in real danger of stranding when they move inshore.

Aquatic Biomes: benthic

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Distribution

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Sperm whales roam the deep waters of all the oceans, though they seldom approach polar ice fields and are most common in temperate and tropical latitudes. They have also be seen occasionally near coastlines in the Gulf of Mexico, where they were once quite common.

Biogeographic Regions: arctic ocean (Native ); indian ocean (Native ); atlantic ocean (Native ); pacific ocean (Native )

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Trophic Strategy

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Physeter catodon feeds mainly on squid (especially giant squid), octopus and deepwater fishes, but it also take sharks and skates. It consumes approximately 3 per cent of its body weight in squid per day.

Animal Foods: fish; mollusks

Primary Diet: carnivore (Molluscivore )

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Benefits

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The head of the sperm whale contains 3-4 tons of spermaceti, a substance valued as a lubricant for fine machinery and a component of automatic transmission fluid. It is also used in making ointments and fine, smokeless candles (once it solidifies into a white wax upon exposure to air). Physeter catodon has also been a target of commercial whaling in years gone by, notably in areas around the Gulf of Mexico. The meat of the whale is not generally consumed. Instead, spermaceti is extracted from the head, and the teeth are often used as a medium for the artistic form of engraving and carving known as scrimshaw. The most important product obtained from giant sperm whales is the oil once used as fuel for lamps and now used as a lubricant and as the base for skin creams and cosmetics. A gummy substance called ambergris forms in the large intestines of sperm whales and can be found floating on the surface of the water or washed ashore once it is expelled. It was once believed to have medicinal qualities, but it is now used in connection with manufacture of perfumes, based on the fact that when it is exposed to air, it hardens and acquires a sweet, earthy smell. The island Ambergris Cay, just south of the Gulf of Mexico, was given its name because of the great quantities of this substance gathered along its shores.

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Benefits

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Being fiercly aggressive, bull giant sperm whales posed a threat to small-boat whalers in the 19th century. Sperm whales are no match for modern whaling equipment, however. They have also been known to become entangled in trans-Atlantic telephone in dives 3/4 mile deep, but this type of incident is rare.

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Untitled

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The name Physeter is a Greek word meaning "blower," and refers to the whale's behavior of making a vapor spout when it exhales air from its lungs at the surface. Catodon comes from two Greek words, kata meaning "lower" and odon meaning "tooth." The species epithet thus refers to the long row of teeth in the lower jaw. The adjectival noun Sperm in the vernacular name refers to the spermaceti or sperm oil obtained from the animal's head, although some have suggested that it may refer to the large size of the male's retractable penis (approximately 2m).

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Behavior

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Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Conservation Status

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Sperm whales were once quite abundant in the Gulf of Mexico, but due to commercial whaling operations, they are seldom seen in this area anymore. Worldwide however, sperm whales populations are more stable than that of many other whales, although they continue to be listed as endangered by USDI (1980). The sperm whale is now the most abundant of the great whales, having been hunted with less intensity that the baleen whales. Worldwide, sperm whales number about 1,500,000.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: vulnerable

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Reproduction

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These whales have a polygamous mating system. During the breeding season, breeding schools composed of 1-5 large males and a mixed group of females and males of various ages form. At this point, there is intense competition among the males for females (including physical competition resulting in battle scars all over the heads of males). Only about 10-25% of fully adult males in a population are able to breed.

Mating System: polygynous

Females mature sexually at 8-11 years, and males mature at approximately 10 years, although males do not mate until 25-27 years old because they do not have a high enough social status in a breeding school until that point. Maximum known life span is 77 years. Gestation period is 14-16 months and a single calf is born, which nurses for up to 2 years. The reproductive cycle occurs in females every 2-5 years. The peak of the mating season is in the spring in both Northern and Southern hemispheres so that most calves are born in the fall.

Breeding interval: The reproductive cycle occurs in females every 2-5 years

Breeding season: The peak of the mating season is in the spring in both Northern and Southern hemispheres

Average number of offspring: 1.

Range gestation period: 14 to 16 months.

Range weaning age: 24 (high) months.

Average weaning age: 24 months.

Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 8 to 11 years.

Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 10 years.

Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; viviparous

Average birth mass: 1e+06 g.

Average number of offspring: 1.

Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male:
3650 days.

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Ballenger, L. 2003. "Physeter catodon" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Physeter_catodon.html
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Biology

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Sperm whales live in either nursery or bachelor groups. Nursery groups consist of a number of adult females and immature males and females (2) (6). Males leave these groups when they become mature and join bachelor groups, which consist of males of 7 to 27 years of age (6). Older males live in small groups or singly, and visit nursery groups to mate with females during the breeding season (6). Most groups of sperm whales tend to number between 10 and 15 individuals (4). Sperm whales use echolocation to find their prey in the dark ocean depths (6). When foraging, powerful sound waves are emitted from the large head; these can stun and even kill the squid, octopuses and fish on which they feed (4). These whales make deep dives to depths of up to 3,000 meters (almost 2 miles) that can last as long as two hours (2) (6). This is the deepest dive made by any species of mammal (6). Males reach maturity at 10 years of age, but they do not begin to mate until they are around 19 years old and a length of 13 metres. Females become mature at between 7 and 11 years, when they are around nine metres in length. A single calf is born between July and November after a gestation period of around 16 months. The calf is suckled for up to two years (4). Groups of females protect their young by adopting a defensive 'marguerite formation' in which the calves are placed in the centre of the group surrounded by a circle of females, facing tail outwards (4).
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Conservation

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As a species, the sperm whale is not facing immediate threat, but some populations need to be carefully monitored, and there is need for tight management of any exploitation (1). In the eastern tropical Pacific, recent whaling was extremely intensive, and birth rates at present are very low. The Mediterranean population is particularly susceptible to collisions with ships and entanglement with fishing gear (1).
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Description

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The sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales, with males growing up to 20 metres in length. It also has the largest brain of any living animal, and it was a sperm whale that was pitted against Captain Ahab in Herman Melville's classic novel, Moby Dick (2). Sperm whales have huge square heads, comprising almost a third of the total body length (2) (3); indeed the specific name macrocephalus means large head. Uniquely among cetaceans, the single blowhole is located on the left of the head rather than on the top (3) and so these whales are easily identified at a distance by their low, bushy spout, which is projected forward and slightly to the left (2). Further down the body toward the tail there is usually a large hump on the back, followed by a series of smaller bumps (3). The dark brown to bluish-black skin, which is splotched and scratched, is said to have a texture like that of a plum stone (2) (3). Males tend to be somewhat larger and heavier than females (3), and have larger heads in relation to their body size (6). The huge heads of sperm whales contain a large cavity, the spermaceti organ, filled with a waxy liquid called spermaceti oil. This wax can be cooled or heated, possibly by water sucked in through the blowhole, and thus shrinks and increases in density (helping the whale sink), or expands and decreases in density (helping the whale rise to the surface) (5). Whalers likened the substance to semen, and this is the origin of the common name of the species (6).
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Habitat

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Inhabits the open ocean in offshore areas, although providing that water is deeper than 200 metres they may occasionally be seen closer to land (2). They occur in tropical to sub-polar waters (2).
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Range

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Sperm whales are found in all of the oceans of the world, except the high Arctic (6).
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Status

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Classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List 2007 (1) and listed under Appendix I of CITES (4).
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Threats

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Sperm whales have a long history of commercial exploitation (1). Large-scale hunting began in 1712 in the North Atlantic, based at Nantucket in America (4). They were not widely hunted for their meat, but for ambergris and spermaceti. Ambergris is a substance that collects around the indigestible beaks of squid in the stomach of the whale, and was highly prized for use as a fixative in the perfume industry. Although artificial alternatives are now available, some perfume makers prefer to use ambergris today. Spermatceti was used in the production of cosmetics and candles (7). Sperm whales still have an economic value today for meat in Japan. Since the 1980s, the International Whaling Commission brought an international moratorium on whaling into force. Despite this measure, Japan continues to hunt sperm whales, and relatively small numbers are taken each year with hand harpoons at Lamalera, Indonesia (1). Further threats include entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with boats (1). Although whaling has, with the exceptions outlined above, largely ceased, the after-effects of such prolonged and intensive hunting are still being felt today. It is thought that the selective hunting of the largest, breeding males will have decreased pregnancy rates, and the loss of the largest females from nursery groups would have decreased the survival of the groups (1).
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Associations

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In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Animal / carrion / dead animal feeder
fruitbody of Psilocybe inquilinus feeds on dead washed up bone of Physeter catodon
Other: unusual host/prey

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Brief Summary

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Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales on earth. Males are usually much larger than the females. The head in particular is enormous, accounting for one third of the entire body. The lower jaw, on the other hand, is remarkably small. Sperm whales eat giant squid, which live at great depths. Therefore, it's no wonder that these whales are specialists in deep diving. The record stands at a depth of 2800 meters. That is why they live in oceans, although every once in a while a sperm whale strands on the coast of the North Sea.
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Distribution

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Sperm whales are found throughout the world's oceans in deep waters to the edge of the ice at both poles (Waring et al. 2009 and references therein).

According to Waring et al. (2009), results of multi-disciplinary research conducted in the Gulf of Mexico during the first decade of the 21st Century confirm speculation that Gulf of Mexico Sperm Whales constitute a stock that is distinct from other Atlantic Ocean stocks(s). Sperm whales were commercially hunted in the Gulf of Mexico by American whalers from sailing vessels until the early 1900s. In the northern Gulf of Mexico (i.e., U.S. Gulf of Mexico), systematic aerial and ship surveys indicate that sperm whales inhabit continental slope and oceanic waters, where they are widely distributed. Seasonal aerial surveys confirm that sperm whales are present in at least the northern Gulf of Mexico in all seasons. The best available estimates indicate a population of around 1,500 Sperm Whales in the northern Gulf of Mexico. (Waring et al. 2009 and references therein)

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Diagnostic Description

provided by FAO species catalogs
The largest toothed cetacean, the sperm whale, is unlikely to be confused with any other species. The body is somewhat laterally compressed and the head is huge (one-quarter to one-third of the total head is huge an even greater proportion of the total bulk) and squarish when viewed from the side. The lower jaw is narrow and underslung. The single S-shaped blowhole is set at the front of the head and is offset to the left. The flippers are wide and spatulate, and the flukes are broad and triangular with a nearly straight trailing edge, rounded tips, and a deep notch. There is a low rounded dorsal hump and a series of bumps, or crenulations, on the dorsal ridge of the tail stock. The body surface tends to be wrinkled behind the head. Sperm whales are predominantly black to brownish grey, with white areas around the mouth and often on the belly. Functional teeth (18 to 25 pairs that fit into sockets in the upper jaw) are present in the lower jaw only. The bushy blow projects up to 5 m and, because of the position of the blowhole, is directed forward and to the left. On windless days, such an angled blow is diagnostic. Adult males and females can be distinguished not only by size differences, but also by the presence or absence of calluses on the dorsal hump. A large percentage of females (about 85%) have calluses, whereas males almost never have them. Can be confused with: Sperm whales are generally easy to distinguish from other large whales at sea, even at a great distance. The uniquely angled blow is diagnostic, but one must be careful to take into account the effects of wind on a whale's blow. Only humpbacks whale , and possibly gray whales, would likely confused with sperm whales, and this only at a great distance.
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Marine mammals of the world. Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood & M.A. Webber - 1993. FAO species identification guide. Rome, FAO. 320 p. 587 figs. . 
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Size

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Newborn sperm whales are 3.5 to 4.5 m long. Adult females are up to 12 m and adult males are up to 18 m in length. Weights of up to 57 t have been recorded.
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Marine mammals of the world. Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood & M.A. Webber - 1993. FAO species identification guide. Rome, FAO. 320 p. 587 figs. . 
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Brief Summary

provided by FAO species catalogs
Although bulls are sometimes seen singly (especially above 40° latitude), sperm whales are more often found in medium to large groups of up to fifty whales. Recently, the social system of sperm whales has been relatively well-studied. Apparently they are polygynous: adult males seem to employ a "searching" strategy for mating, associating with nursery groups of adult females and their offspring for only short periods of time. Sexually mature but non-breeding males that have been displaced from their maternal pods form bachelor herds. Most births occur in summer and autumn. Sperm whales are deep divers, apparently capable of reaching depths of 3 200 m or more. Some dives of bulls, which are longer than those of the smaller cows, last at least 2 hours. Fluking-up is common before a long dive. Low-frequency, stereotyped, clicked vocalizations, some of which are termed "codas", are apparently distinct to individual sperm whales and may act as acoustic signatures. Some clicks are also probably used in echolocation.An amazing variety of fish, cephalopods, and non-food items has been found in the stomachs of sperm whales from around the world. Cephalopods (squid and octopus), however, are considered to be the major prey items.
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Marine mammals of the world. Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood & M.A. Webber - 1993. FAO species identification guide. Rome, FAO. 320 p. 587 figs. . 
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Benefits

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Conservation Status : Sperm whaling has a long history. The most intense periods were the "Yankee whaling" era of the 1800s and the factory ship whaling of the 20th century. Recent findings of studies on social behaviour and breeding undermine assumptions in the models on which exploitation and management have long been based. Certain populations have been depleted, but the sperm whale remains the most abundant of all the great whales (Great whales generally include the sperm whale and all baleen whales, except the pygmy right whale). IUCN: Insuficiently known.
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Marine mammals of the world. Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood & M.A. Webber - 1993. FAO species identification guide. Rome, FAO. 320 p. 587 figs. . 
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Sperm whale

provided by wikipedia EN

The sperm whale or cachalot[a] (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia.

The sperm whale is a pelagic mammal with a worldwide range, and will migrate seasonally for feeding and breeding.[5] Females and young males live together in groups, while mature males (bulls) live solitary lives outside of the mating season. The females cooperate to protect and nurse their young. Females give birth every four to twenty years, and care for the calves for more than a decade. A mature sperm whale has no natural predators, although calves and weakened adults are sometimes killed by pods of killer whales (orcas).

Mature males average 16 metres (52 ft) in length, with the head representing up to one-third of the animal's length. Plunging to 2,250 metres (7,382 ft), it is the third deepest diving mammal, exceeded only by the southern elephant seal and Cuvier's beaked whale.[6][7] The sperm whale uses echolocation and vocalization with source level as loud as 236 decibels (re 1 µPa m) underwater.[8][9] It has the largest brain on Earth, more than five times heavier than a human's. Sperm whales can live 70 years or more.[10][11][12]

Spermaceti (sperm oil), from which the whale derives its name, was a prime target of the whaling industry, and was sought after for use in oil lamps, lubricants, and candles. Ambergris, a solid waxy waste product sometimes present in its digestive system, is still highly valued as a fixative in perfumes, among other uses. Beachcombers look out for ambergris as flotsam.[13] Sperm whaling was a major industry in the 19th century, depicted in the novel Moby-Dick. The species is protected by the International Whaling Commission moratorium, and is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Taxonomy and naming

Etymology

The name "sperm whale" is a clipping of "spermaceti whale". Spermaceti, originally mistakenly identified as the whales' semen, is the semi-liquid, waxy substance found within the whale's head.[14] (See "Spermaceti organ and melon" below.)

The sperm whale is also known as the "cachalot", which is thought to derive from the archaic French for 'tooth' or 'big teeth', as preserved for example in the word caishau in the Gascon dialect (a word of either Romance[15] or Basque[16] origin).

The etymological dictionary of Corominas says the origin is uncertain, but it suggests that it comes from the Vulgar Latin cappula 'sword hilts'.[17] The word cachalot came to English via French from Spanish or Portuguese cachalote, perhaps from Galician/Portuguese cachola 'big head'.[18]

The term is retained in the Russian word for the animal, kashalot (кашалот), as well as in many other languages.

The scientific genus name Physeter comes from the Greek physētēr (φυσητήρ), meaning 'blowpipe, blowhole (of a whale)', or – as a pars pro toto – 'whale'.

The specific name macrocephalus is Latinized from the Greek makroképhalos (μακροκέφαλος 'big-headed'), from makros (μακρός) + kephalē (κεφαλή).

Its synonymous specific name catodon means 'down-tooth', from the Greek elements cat(a)- ('below') and odṓn ('tooth'); so named because it has visible teeth only in its lower jaw.[19] (See "Jaws and teeth" below.)

Another synonym australasianus ('Australasian') was applied to sperm whales in the Southern Hemisphere.[20]

Taxonomy

The sperm whale belongs to the order Cetartiodactyla,[21][22][23][24][25] the order containing all cetaceans and even-toed ungulates. It is a member of the unranked clade Cetacea, with all the whales, dolphins, and porpoises, and further classified into Odontoceti, containing all the toothed whales and dolphins. It is the sole extant species of its genus, Physeter, in the family Physeteridae. Two species of the related extant genus Kogia, the pygmy sperm whale Kogia breviceps and the dwarf sperm whale K. sima, are placed either in this family or in the family Kogiidae.[26] In some taxonomic schemes the families Kogiidae and Physeteridae are combined as the superfamily Physeteroidea (see the separate entry on the sperm whale family).[27]

Swedish ichthyologist Peter Artedi described it as Physeter catodon in his 1738 work Genera piscium, from the report of a beached specimen in the Orkneys in 1693 and two beached in the Netherlands in 1598 and 1601.[28] The 1598 specimen was near Berkhey.

The sperm whale is one of the species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. He recognised four species in the genus Physeter.[29] Experts soon realised that just one such species exists, although there has been debate about whether this should be named P. catodon or P. macrocephalus, two of the names used by Linnaeus. Both names are still used, although most recent authors now accept macrocephalus as the valid name, limiting catodon's status to a lesser synonym. Until 1974, the species was generally known as P. catodon. In that year, however, Dutch zoologists Antonius M. Husson and Lipke Holthuis proposed that the correct name should be P. macrocephalus, the second name in the genus Physeter published by Linnaeus concurrently with P. catodon. This proposition was based on the grounds that the names were synonyms published simultaneously, and, therefore, the ICZN Principle of the First Reviser should apply. In this instance, it led to the choice of P. macrocephalus over P. catodon, a view re-stated in Holthuis, 1987.[30] This has been adopted by most subsequent authors, although Schevill (1986[31] and 1987[32]) argued that macrocephalus was published with an inaccurate description and that therefore only the species catodon was valid, rendering the principle of "First Reviser" inapplicable. The most recent version of ITIS has altered its usage from P. catodon to P. macrocephalus,[33] following L. B. Holthuis and more recent (2008) discussions with relevant experts.[34][35] Furthermore, The Taxonomy Committee of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, the largest international association of marine mammal scientists in the world, officially uses Physeter macrocephalus when publishing their definitive list of marine mammal species.[36]

Biology

External appearance

The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale and is among the most sexually dimorphic of all cetaceans.[38] Both sexes are about the same size at birth,[10] but mature males are typically 30% to 50% longer and three times as massive as females.[39][40]

Newborn sperm whales are usually between 3.7 to 4.3 meters (12 to 14 ft) long.[41] Female sperm whales are sexually mature at 8 to 9 meters (26 to 30 ft) in length, whilst males are sexually mature at 11 to 12 meters (36 to 39 ft).[42] Female sperm whales are physically mature at about 10.6 to 11 meters (35 to 36 ft) in length and generally do not achieve lengths greater than 12 metres (39 ft).[38][40][42] The largest female sperm whale measured up to 12.3 meters (40 ft) long, and an individual of such size would have weighed about 17 tonnes (19 short tons).[43][44] Male sperm whales are physically mature at about 15 to 16 meters (49 to 52 ft) in length, and larger males can generally achieve 18 to 19 meters (59 to 62 ft).[42][45][38] An 18 meters (59 ft) long male sperm whale is estimated to have weighed 57 tonnes (56 long tons; 63 short tons).[37] By contrast, the second largest toothed whale (Baird's beaked whale) measures up to 12.8 meters (42 ft) and weighs up to 14 tonnes (15 short tons).[46]

There are occasional reports of individual sperm whales achieving even greater lengths, with some historical claims reaching or exceeding 80 feet (24 m). One example is the whale that sank the Essex (one of the incidents behind Moby-Dick), which was claimed to be 85 feet (26 m). However, there is disagreement as to the accuracy of some of these claims, which are often considered exaggerations or as being measured along the curves of the body.[47][38][45]

An individual measuring 20.7 metres (68 ft) was reported from a Soviet whaling fleet near the Kuril Islands in 1950 and is cited by some authors as the largest accurately measured.[38][48] It has been estimated to weigh 80 tonnes (79 long tons; 88 short tons).[47] In a review of size variation in marine megafauna, McClain and colleagues noted that the International Whaling Commission's data contained eight individuals larger than 20.7 metres (68 ft). The authors supported a 24-metre (79 ft) male from the South Pacific in 1933 as the largest recorded. However, sizes like these are rare, with 95% of recorded sperm whales below 15.85 metres (52.0 ft).[38]

In 1853, one sperm whale was reported at 62 feet (19 m) in length, with a head measuring 20 feet (6.1 m).[49] Large lower jawbones are held in the British Natural History Museum and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, measuring 5 metres (16 ft) and 4.7 metres (15 ft), respectively.[47]

The average size of sperm whales has decreased over the years, probably due to pressure from whaling.[38] Another view holds that exploitation by overwhaling had virtually no effect on the size of the bull sperm whales, and their size may have actually increased in current times on the basis of density dependent effects.[50] Old males taken at Solander Islands were recorded to be extremely large and unusually rich in blubbers.[51]

Unusual among cetaceans, the sperm whale's blowhole is highly skewed to the left side of the head.

The sperm whale's unique body is unlikely to be confused with any other species. The sperm whale's distinctive shape comes from its very large, block-shaped head, which can be one-quarter to one-third of the animal's length. The S-shaped blowhole is located very close to the front of the head and shifted to the whale's left.[39] This gives rise to a distinctive bushy, forward-angled spray.

The sperm whale's flukes (tail lobes) are triangular and very thick. Proportionally, they are larger than that of any other cetacean, and are very flexible.[52] The whale lifts its flukes high out of the water as it begins a feeding dive.[39] It has a series of ridges on the back's caudal third instead of a dorsal fin. The largest ridge was called the 'hump' by whalers, and can be mistaken for a dorsal fin because of its shape and size.[10]

In contrast to the smooth skin of most large whales, its back skin is usually wrinkly and has been likened to a prune by whale-watching enthusiasts.[53] Albinos have been reported.[11][54]

Skeleton

A sperm whale skeleton

The ribs are bound to the spine by flexible cartilage, which allows the ribcage to collapse rather than snap under high pressure.[55] While sperm whales are well adapted to diving, repeated dives to great depths have long-term effects. Bones show the same pitting that signals decompression sickness in humans. Older skeletons showed the most extensive pitting, whereas calves showed no damage. This damage may indicate that sperm whales are susceptible to decompression sickness, and sudden surfacing could be lethal to them.[56]

Like that of all cetaceans, the spine of the sperm whale has reduced zygapophysial joints, of which the remnants are modified and are positioned higher on the vertebral dorsal spinous process, hugging it laterally, to prevent extensive lateral bending and facilitate more dorso-ventral bending. These evolutionary modifications make the spine more flexible but weaker than the spines of terrestrial vertebrates.[57]

Labeled sperm whale skeleton

Like many cetaceans, the sperm whale has a vestigial pelvis that is not connected to the spine.

Like that of other toothed whales, the skull of the sperm whale is asymmetrical so as to aid echolocation. Sound waves that strike the whale from different directions will not be channeled in the same way.[58] Within the basin of the cranium, the openings of the bony narial tubes (from which the nasal passages spring) are skewed towards the left side of the skull.

Jaws and teeth

Sperm whale tooth
The lower jaw is long and narrow. The teeth fit into sockets along the upper jaw. (lifelike sculpture)

The sperm whale's lower jaw is very narrow and underslung.[59] The sperm whale has 18 to 26 teeth on each side of its lower jaw which fit into sockets in the upper jaw.[59] The teeth are cone-shaped and weigh up to 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) each.[60] The teeth are functional, but do not appear to be necessary for capturing or eating squid, as well-fed animals have been found without teeth or even with deformed jaws. One hypothesis is that the teeth are used in aggression between males.[61] Mature males often show scars which seem to be caused by the teeth. Rudimentary teeth are also present in the upper jaw, but these rarely emerge into the mouth.[62] Analyzing the teeth is the preferred method for determining a whale's age. Like the age-rings in a tree, the teeth build distinct layers of cementum and dentine as they grow.[63]

Brain

The sperm whale's brain is the largest in the world, five times heavier than a human's.

The sperm whale brain is the largest known of any modern or extinct animal, weighing on average about 7.8 kilograms (17 lb)[64][65] (with the smallest known weighing 6.4 kilograms (14 lb) and the largest known weighing 9.2 kilograms (20 lb)),[47][48] more than five times heavier than a human's, and has a volume of about 8,000 cm3.[66] Although larger brains generally correlate with higher intelligence, it is not the only factor. Elephants and dolphins also have larger brains than humans.[67] The sperm whale has a lower encephalization quotient than many other whale and dolphin species, lower than that of non-human anthropoid apes, and much lower than humans'.[65][68]

The sperm whale's cerebrum is the largest in all mammalia, both in absolute and relative terms. The olfactory system is reduced, suggesting that the sperm whale has a poor sense of taste and smell. By contrast, the auditory system is enlarged. The pyramidal tract is poorly developed, reflecting the reduction of its limbs.[69]

Biological systems

The sperm whale respiratory system has adapted to cope with drastic pressure changes when diving. The flexible ribcage allows lung collapse, reducing nitrogen intake, and metabolism can decrease to conserve oxygen.[70][71] Between dives, the sperm whale surfaces to breathe for about eight minutes before diving again.[39] Odontoceti (toothed whales) breathe air at the surface through a single, S-shaped blowhole, which is extremely skewed to the left. Sperm whales spout (breathe) 3–5 times per minute at rest, increasing to 6–7 times per minute after a dive. The blow is a noisy, single stream that rises up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) or more above the surface and points forward and left at a 45° angle.[72] On average, females and juveniles blow every 12.5 seconds before dives, while large males blow every 17.5 seconds before dives.[73] A sperm whale killed 160 km (100 mi) south of Durban, South Africa, after a 1-hour, 50-minute dive was found with two dogfish (Scymnodon sp.), usually found at the sea floor, in its belly.[74]

The sperm whale has the longest intestinal system in the world,[75] exceeding 300 m in larger specimens.[76][77] Similar to ruminants the sperm whale has a four-chambered stomach. The first secretes no gastric juices and has very thick muscular walls to crush the food (since whales cannot chew) and resist the claw and sucker attacks of swallowed squid. The second chamber is larger and is where digestion takes place. Undigested squid beaks accumulate in the second chamber – as many as 18,000 have been found in some dissected specimens.[76][78][79] Most squid beaks are vomited by the whale, but some occasionally make it to the hindgut. Such beaks precipitate the formation of ambergris.[79]

The arterial system of a sperm whale foetus

In 1959, the heart of a 22 metric-ton (24 short-ton) male taken by whalers was measured to be 116 kilograms (256 lb), about 0.5% of its total mass.[80] The circulatory system has a number of specific adaptations for the aquatic environment. The diameter of the aortic arch increases as it leaves the heart. This bulbous expansion acts as a windkessel, ensuring a steady blood flow as the heart rate slows during diving.[81] The arteries that leave the aortic arch are positioned symmetrically. There is no costocervical artery. There is no direct connection between the internal carotid artery and the vessels of the brain.[82] Their circulatory system has adapted to dive at great depths, as much as 2,250 metres (7,382 ft)[6][7][83][84][85] for up to 120 minutes.[86] More typical dives are around 400 metres (1,310 ft) and 35 minutes in duration.[39] Myoglobin, which stores oxygen in muscle tissue, is much more abundant than in terrestrial animals.[87] The blood has a high density of red blood cells, which contain oxygen-carrying haemoglobin. The oxygenated blood can be directed towards only the brain and other essential organs when oxygen levels deplete.[88][89][90] The spermaceti organ may also play a role by adjusting buoyancy (see below).[91] The arterial retia mirabilia are extraordinarily well-developed. The complex arterial retia mirabilia of the sperm whale are more extensive and larger than those of any other cetacean.[82]

Senses

Spermaceti organ and melon

Anatomy of the sperm whale's head. The organs above the jaw are devoted to sound generation.

Atop the whale's skull is positioned a large complex of organs filled with a liquid mixture of fats and waxes called spermaceti. The purpose of this complex is to generate powerful and focused clicking sounds, the existence of which was proven by Valentine Worthington, and William Schevill when a recording was produced on a research vessel in May 1959.[92] The sperm whale uses these sounds for echolocation and communication.[93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101]

The spermaceti organ is like a large barrel of spermaceti. Its surrounding wall, known as the case, is extremely tough and fibrous. The case can hold within it up to 1,900 litres of spermaceti.[102] It is proportionately larger in males.[103] This oil is a mixture of triglycerides and wax esters. The proportion of wax esters in the spermaceti organ increases with the age of the whale: 38–51% in calves, 58–87% in adult females, and 71–94% in adult males.[104] The spermaceti at the core of the organ has a higher wax content than the outer areas.[105] The speed of sound in spermaceti is 2,684 m/s (at 40 kHz, 36 °C), making it nearly twice as fast as in the oil in a dolphin's melon.[106]

Below the spermaceti organ lies the "junk" which consists of compartments of spermaceti separated by cartilage. It is analogous to the melon found in other toothed whales.[107] The structure of the junk redistributes physical stress across the skull and may have evolved to protect the head during ramming.[108][109][107]

Running through the head are two air passages. The left passage runs alongside the spermaceti organ and goes directly to the blowhole, whilst the right passage runs underneath the spermaceti organ and passes air through a pair of phonic lips and into the distal sac at the very front of the nose. The distal sac is connected to the blowhole and the terminus of the left passage. When the whale is submerged, it can close the blowhole, and air that passes through the phonic lips can circulate back to the lungs. The sperm whale, unlike other odontocetes, has only one pair of phonic lips, whereas all other toothed whales have two,[110] and it is located at the front of the nose instead of behind the melon.

At the posterior end of this spermaceti complex is the frontal sac, which covers the concave surface of the cranium. The posterior wall of the frontal sac is covered with fluid-filled knobs, which are about 4–13 mm in diameter and separated by narrow grooves. The anterior wall is smooth. The knobbly surface reflects sound waves that come through the spermaceti organ from the phonic lips. The grooves between the knobs trap a film of air that is consistent whatever the orientation or depth of the whale, making it an excellent sound mirror.[106]

The spermaceti organs may also help adjust the whale's buoyancy. It is hypothesized that before the whale dives, cold water enters the organ, and it is likely that the blood vessels constrict, reducing blood flow, and, hence, temperature. The wax therefore solidifies and reduces in volume.[91][111] The increase in specific density generates a down force of about 392 newtons (88 lbf) and allows the whale to dive with less effort. During the hunt, oxygen consumption, together with blood vessel dilation, produces heat and melts the spermaceti, increasing its buoyancy and enabling easy surfacing.[112] However, more recent work[96] has found many problems with this theory including the lack of anatomical structures for the actual heat exchange.[113] Another issue is that if the spermaceti does indeed cool and solidify, it would affect the whale's echolocation ability just when it needs it to hunt in the depths.

Herman Melville's fictional story Moby-Dick suggests that the "case" containing the spermaceti serves as a battering ram for use in fights between males.[114] A few famous instances include the well-documented sinking of the ships Essex and Ann Alexander by attackers estimated to weigh only one-fifth as much as the ships.[107]

Eyes and vision

Like other toothed whales, the sperm whale can retract its eyes.

The sperm whale's eye does not differ greatly from those of other toothed whales except in size. It is the largest among the toothed whales, weighing about 170 g. It is overall ellipsoid in shape, compressed along the visual axis, measuring about 7×7×3 cm. The cornea is elliptical and the lens is spherical. The sclera is very hard and thick, roughly 1 cm anteriorly and 3 cm posteriorly. There are no ciliary muscles. The choroid is very thick and contains a fibrous tapetum lucidum. Like other toothed whales, the sperm whale can retract and protrude its eyes, thanks to a 2-cm-thick retractor muscle attached around the eye at the equator,[115] but are unable to roll the eyes in their sockets.[116]

According to Fristrup and Harbison (2002),[117] sperm whale's eyes afford good vision and sensitivity to light. They conjectured that sperm whales use vision to hunt squid, either by detecting silhouettes from below or by detecting bioluminescence. If sperm whales detect silhouettes, Fristrup and Harbison suggested that they hunt upside down, allowing them to use the forward parts of the ventral visual fields for binocular vision.

Sleeping

For some time researchers have been aware that pods of sperm whales may sleep for short periods, assuming a vertical position with their heads just below or at the surface, or head down.[118] A 2008 study published in Current Biology recorded evidence that whales may sleep with both sides of the brain. It appears that some whales may fall into a deep sleep for about 7 percent of the time, most often between 6 p.m. and midnight.[119]

Genetics

Sperm whales have 21 pairs of chromosomes (2n=42).[120] The genome of live whales can be examined by recovering shed skin.[121]

Vocalization complex

Sperm whale vocalization

After the discovery by Valentine Worthington and William Schevill confirmed the existence of whale vocalization[92] further studies conducted found that sperm whales are capable of emitting sounds at a volume of 230 decibels more than an airplane jet engine at takeoff the sperm whale is the loudest animal in the world.[122] Sperm whale vocalization is a learned behavior that is clan specific.[123]

Mechanism

When echolocating, the sperm whale emits a directionally focused beam of broadband clicks. Clicks are generated by forcing air through a pair of phonic lips (also known as "monkey lips" or "museau de singe") at the front end of the nose, just below the blowhole. The sound then travels backwards along the length of the nose through the spermaceti organ. Most of the sound energy is then reflected off the frontal sac at the cranium and into the melon, whose lens-like structure focuses it.[94][124][95][96][97][125][98][99] Some of the sound will reflect back into the spermaceti organ and back towards the front of the whale's nose, where it will be reflected through the spermaceti organ a third time. This back and forth reflection which happens on the scale of a few milliseconds creates a multi-pulse click structure.[126] This multi-pulse click structure allows researchers to measure the whale's spermaceti organ using only the sound of its clicks.[127][128] Because the interval between pulses of a sperm whale's click is related to the length of the sound producing organ, an individual whale's click is unique to that individual. However, if the whale matures and the size of the spermaceti organ increases, the tone of the whale's click will also change.[128] The lower jaw is the primary reception path for the echoes. A continuous fat-filled canal transmits received sounds to the inner ear.[129]

The source of the air forced through the phonic lips is the right nasal passage. While the left nasal passage opens to the blow hole, the right nasal passage has evolved to supply air to the phonic lips. It is thought that the nostrils of the land-based ancestor of the sperm whale migrated through evolution to their current functions, the left nostril becoming the blowhole and the right nostril becoming the phonic lips.[130]

Air that passes through the phonic lips passes into the distal sac, then back down through the left nasal passage. This recycling of air allows the whale to continuously generate clicks for as long as it is submerged.[131]

Types of vocalization

A creak is a rapid series of high-frequency clicks that sounds somewhat like a creaky door hinge. It is typically used when homing in on prey.[132]

A coda is a short pattern of 3 to 20 clicks that is used in social situations. They were once thought to be a way by which individuals identified themselves, but individuals have been observed producing multiple codas, and the same codas are used by multiple individuals.[133] However, each click contains a physical signature which suggests that clicks can be used to identify individuals.[93] Geographically separate pods exhibit distinct dialects.[134] Large males are generally solitary and rarely produce codas.[133] In breeding grounds, codas are almost entirely produced by adult females. Despite evidence that sperm whales share similar codas, it is still unknown whether sperm whales possess individually specific coda repertoires or whether individuals make codas at different rates.[135]

Slow clicks are heard only in the presence of males (it is not certain whether females occasionally make them). Males make a lot of slow clicks in breeding grounds (74% of the time), both near the surface and at depth, which suggests they are primarily mating signals. Outside breeding grounds, slow clicks are rarely heard, and usually near the surface.[136]

Ecology

Distribution

Global concentrations of sperm whales

Sperm whales are among the most cosmopolitan species. They prefer ice-free waters over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) deep.[3] Although both sexes range through temperate and tropical oceans and seas, only adult males populate higher latitudes.[11] Among several regions, such as along coastal waters of southern Australia, sperm whales have been considered to be locally extinct.[137]

They are relatively abundant from the poles to the equator and are found in all the oceans. They inhabit the Mediterranean Sea, but not the Black Sea,[10] while their presence in the Red Sea is uncertain.[3] The shallow entrances to both the Black Sea and the Red Sea may account for their absence.[138] The Black Sea's lower layers are also anoxic and contain high concentrations of sulphur compounds such as hydrogen sulphide.[139] The first ever sighting off the coast of Pakistan was made in 2017.[140][141] The first ever record off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula (Yellow Sea) was made in 2005.[142][143] followed by one near Ganghwa Island in 2009.[144]

Populations are denser close to continental shelves and canyons.[11] Sperm whales are usually found in deep, off-shore waters, but may be seen closer to shore, in areas where the continental shelf is small and drops quickly to depths of 310 to 920 metres (1,020 to 3,020 ft).[10] Coastal areas with significant sperm whale populations include the Azores and Dominica.[145] In east Asian waters, whales are also observed regularly in coastal waters in places such as the Commander and Kuril Islands, Shiretoko Peninsula which is one of few locations where sperm whales can be observed from shores,[146] off Kinkasan, vicinity to Tokyo Bay[147] and the Bōsō Peninsula to the Izu[148][149] and the Izu Islands, the Volcano Islands, Yakushima and the Tokara Islands to the Ryukyu Islands,[150][151]Taiwan, the Northern Mariana Islands,[152] and so forth. Historical catch records suggest there could have been smaller aggression grounds in the Sea of Japan as well.[153] Along the Korean Peninsula, the first confirmed observation within the Sea of Japan, eight animals off Guryongpo, was made in 2004 since after the last catches of five whales off Ulsan in 1911,[143][154] while nine whales were observed in the East China Sea side of the peninsula in 1999.[155]

Grown males are known to enter surprisingly shallow bays to rest (whales will be in a state of rest during these occasions). There are unique, coastal groups reported from various areas among the globe such as near the Scotland's coastal waters,[156] and Shiretoko Peninsula, off Kaikoura, in Davao Gulf. Such coastal groups were more abundant in pre-whaling days.[157]

Genetic analysis indicates that the world population of sperm whales originated in the Pacific Ocean from a population of about 10,000 animals around 100,000 years ago, when expanding ice caps blocked off their access to other seas. In particular, colonization of the Atlantic was revealed to have occurred multiple times during this expansion of their range.[158]

Diet

Photo of whale skin with many overlapping circular indentations
A piece of sperm whale skin with giant squid sucker scars

Sperm whales usually dive between 300 to 800 metres (980 to 2,620 ft), and sometimes 1 to 2 kilometres (3,300 to 6,600 ft), in search of food.[159] Such dives can last more than an hour.[159] They feed on several species, notably the giant squid, but also the colossal squid, octopuses, and fish such as demersal rays and sharks, but their diet is mainly medium-sized squid.[160] Some prey may be taken accidentally while eating other items.[160] Most of what is known about deep-sea squid has been learned from specimens in captured sperm whale stomachs, although more recent studies analysed faeces. One study, carried out around the Galápagos, found that squid from the genera Histioteuthis (62%), Ancistrocheirus (16%), and Octopoteuthis (7%) weighing between 12 and 650 grams (0.026 and 1.433 lb) were the most commonly taken.[161] Battles between sperm whales and giant squid or colossal squid have never been observed by humans; however, white scars are believed to be caused by the large squid. One study published in 2010 collected evidence that suggests that female sperm whales may collaborate when hunting Humboldt squid.[162] Tagging studies have shown that sperm whales hunt upside down at the bottom of their deep dives. It is suggested that the whales can see the squid silhouetted above them against the dim surface light.[163]

An older study, examining whales captured by the New Zealand whaling fleet in the Cook Strait region, found a 1.69:1 ratio of squid to fish by weight.[164] Sperm whales sometimes take sablefish and toothfish from long lines. Long-line fishing operations in the Gulf of Alaska complain that sperm whales take advantage of their fishing operations to eat desirable species straight off the line, sparing the whales the need to hunt.[165] However, the amount of fish taken is very little compared to what the sperm whale needs per day. Video footage has been captured of a large male sperm whale "bouncing" a long line, to gain the fish.[166] Sperm whales are believed to prey on the megamouth shark, a rare and large deep-sea species discovered in the 1970s.[167] In one case, three sperm whales were observed attacking or playing with a megamouth.[168]

Sperm whales have also been noted to feed on bioluminescent pyrosomes such as Pyrosoma atlanticum.[169][170][171] It is thought that the foraging strategy of sperm whales for bioluminescent squids may also explain the presence of these light-emitting pyrosomes in the diet of the sperm whale.[171]

The sharp beak of a consumed squid lodged in the whale's intestine may lead to the production of ambergris, analogous to the production of pearls in oysters.[172] The irritation of the intestines caused by squid beaks stimulates the secretion of this lubricant-like substance. Sperm whales are prodigious feeders and eat around 3% of their body weight per day. The total annual consumption of prey by sperm whales worldwide is estimated to be about 91 million tonnes (100 million short tons).[173] In comparison, human consumption of seafood is estimated to be 115 million tonnes (127 million short tons).[174]

Sperm whales hunt through echolocation. Their clicks are among the most powerful sounds in the animal kingdom (see above). It has been hypothesised that it can stun prey with its clicks. Experimental studies attempting to duplicate this effect have been unable to replicate the supposed injuries, casting doubt on this idea.[175] One study showing that sound pressure levels on the squid are more than an order of magnitude below levels required for debilitation, and therefore, precluding acoustic stunning to facilitate prey capture.[176]

It has been stated that sperm whales, as well as other large cetaceans, help fertilise the surface of the ocean by consuming nutrients in the depths and transporting those nutrients to the oceans' surface when they defecate, an effect known as the whale pump.[177] This fertilises phytoplankton and other plants on the surface of the ocean and contributes to ocean productivity and the drawdown of atmospheric carbon.[178]

Life cycle

Sperm whales can live 70 years or more.[10][11][12] They are a prime example of a species that has been K-selected, meaning their reproductive strategy is associated with stable environmental conditions and comprises a low birth rate, significant parental aid to offspring, slow maturation, and high longevity.[39]

How they choose mates has not been definitively determined. Bulls will fight with each other over females, and males will mate with multiple females, making them polygynous, but they do not dominate the group as in a harem.[179][180] Bulls do not provide paternal care to their offspring but rather play a fatherly role to younger bulls to show dominance.[181]

Females become fertile at around 9 years of age.[182] The oldest pregnant female ever recorded was 41 years old.[183] Gestation requires 14 to 16 months, producing a single calf.[10] Sexually mature females give birth once every 4 to 20 years (pregnancy rates were higher during the whaling era).[182] Birth is a social event, as the mother and calf need others to protect them from predators. The other adults may jostle and bite the newborn in its first hours.[184]

Lactation proceeds for 19 to 42 months, but calves, rarely, may suckle up to 13 years.[10] Like that of other whales, the sperm whale's milk has a higher fat content than that of terrestrial mammals: about 36%,[185] compared to 4% in cow milk. This gives it a consistency similar to cottage cheese,[186] which prevents it from dissolving in the water before the calf can drink it.[187] It has an energy content of roughly 3,840 kcal/kg,[185] compared to just 640 kcal/kg in cow milk.[188] Calves may be allowed to suckle from females other than their mothers.[10]

Males become sexually mature at 18 years. Upon reaching sexual maturity, males move to higher latitudes, where the water is colder and feeding is more productive. Females remain at lower latitudes.[10] Males reach their full size at about age 50.[39]

Social behaviour

Relations within the species

Diagram showing silhouettes of 10 inward-facing whales surrounding a single, presumably injured, group member
Sperm whales adopt the "marguerite formation" to defend a vulnerable pod member.

Like elephants, females and their young live in matriarchal groups called pods, while bulls live apart. Bulls sometimes form loose bachelor groups with other males of similar age and size. As they grow older, they typically live solitary lives, only returning to the pod to socialize or to breed.[39] Bulls have beached themselves together, suggesting a degree of cooperation which is not yet fully understood.[39] The whales rarely, if ever, leave their group.[189]

A social unit is a group of sperm whales who live and travel together over a period of years. Individuals rarely, if ever, join or leave a social unit. There is a huge variance in the size of social units. They are most commonly between six and nine individuals in size but can have more than twenty.[190] Unlike orcas, sperm whales within a social unit show no significant tendency to associate with their genetic relatives.[191] Females and calves spend about three-quarters of their time foraging and a quarter of their time socializing. Socializing usually takes place in the afternoon.[192]

When sperm whales socialize, they emit complex patterns of clicks called codas. They will spend much of the time rubbing against each other. Tracking of diving whales suggests that groups engage in herding of prey, similar to bait balls created by other species, though the research needs to be confirmed by tracking the prey.[193][194]

Relations with other species

The most common natural predator of sperm whales is the orca (killer whale), but pilot whales and false killer whales sometimes harass them.[195][196] Orcas prey on target groups of females with young, usually making an effort to extract and kill a calf. The females will protect their calves or an injured adult by encircling them. They may face inwards with their tails out (the 'marguerite formation', named after the flower). The heavy and powerful tail of an adult whale is potentially capable of delivering lethal blows.[197] Alternatively, they may face outwards (the 'heads-out formation'). Other than sperm whales, southern right whales had been observed to perform similar formations.[198] However, formations in non-dangerous situations have been recorded as well.[198] Early whalers exploited this behaviour, attracting a whole unit by injuring one of its members.[199] Such a tactic is described in Moby-Dick:

"Say you strike a Forty-barrel-bull—poor devil! all his comrades quit him. But strike a member of the harem school, and her companions swim around her with every token of concern, sometimes lingering so near her and so long, as themselves to fall a prey."[200]

If the killer whale pod is large, its members may sometimes be able to kill adult female sperm whales and can at least injure an entire pod of sperm whales.[201][202] Bulls have no predators, and are believed to be too large, powerful and aggressive to be threatened by killer whales.[203] Solitary bulls are known to interfere and come to the aid of vulnerable groups nearby.[204] However, the bull sperm whale, when accompanying pods of female sperm whales and their calves as such, may be reportedly unable to effectively dissuade killer whales from their attacks on the group, although the killer whales may end the attack sooner when a bull is present.[205][206] However, male sperm whales have been observed to attack and intimidate killer whale pods in competitive feeding instances. An incident was filmed from a long-line trawler: a killer whale pod was systematically taking fish caught on the trawler's long lines (as the lines were being pulled into the ship) when a male sperm whale appeared to repeatedly charge the killer whale pod in an attempt to drive them away; it was speculated by the film crew that the sperm whale was attempting to access the same fish. The killer whales employed a tail outward and tail-slapping defensive position against the bull sperm whale similar to that used by female sperm whales against attacking killer whales.[207] However, at some potential feeding sites, the killer whales may prevail over sperm whales even when outnumbered by the sperm whales. Some authors consider the killer whales "usually" behaviorally dominant over sperm whales but express that the two species are "fairly evenly matched", with the killer whales' greater aggression, more considerable biting force for their size and predatory prowess more than compensating for their smaller size.[205][208]

Sperm whales are not known for forging bonds with other species, but it was observed that a bottlenose dolphin with a spinal deformity had been accepted into a pod of sperm whales.[209] They are known to swim alongside other cetaceans such as humpback,[210] fin, minke, pilot,[211] and killer whales on occasion.[212]

Parasites

Sperm whales can suffer from parasites. Out of 35 sperm whales caught during the 1976–1977 Antarctic whaling season, all of them were infected by Anisakis physeteris (in their stomachs) and Phyllobothrium delphini (in their blubber). Both whales with a placenta were infected with Placentonema gigantissima,[213] potentially the largest nematode worm ever described.

Evolutionary history

Toothed whales Physeteroidea

Other Physeteroidea

Kogiidae

Pygmy sperm whale

Dwarf sperm whale

Physeteridae

Other Physeteridae

Sperm whale

South Asian river dolphin

Other river dolphins

Oceanic dolphins

Porpoises

Arctic whales

Beaked whales

Baleen whales

Evolutionary family tree of sperm whales,[214]
including simplified summary of extinct groups ()[215]

Fossil record

Although the fossil record is poor,[216] several extinct genera have been assigned to the clade Physeteroidea, which includes the last common ancestor of the modern sperm whale, pygmy sperm whales, dwarf sperm whales, and extinct physeteroids. These fossils include Ferecetotherium, Idiorophus, Diaphorocetus, Aulophyseter, Orycterocetus, Scaldicetus, Placoziphius, Zygophyseter and Acrophyseter.[27][215][217] Ferecetotherium, found in Azerbaijan and dated to the late Oligocene (about 28 to 23 million years ago), is the most primitive fossil that has been found, which possesses sperm whale-specific features, such as an asymmetric rostrum ("beak" or "snout").[218] Most sperm whale fossils date from the Miocene period, 23 to 5 million years ago. Diaphorocetus, from Argentina, has been dated to the early Miocene. Fossil sperm whales from the Middle Miocene include Aulophyseter, Idiorophus and Orycterocetus, all of which were found on the West Coast of the United States, and Scaldicetus, found in Europe and Japan.[218][219] Orycterocetus fossils have also been found in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, in addition to the west coast of the United States.[220] Placoziphius, found in Europe, and Acrophyseter, from Peru, are dated to the late Miocene.[27][218]

Fossil sperm whales differ from modern sperm whales in tooth count and the shape of the face and jaws.[218] For example, Scaldicetus had a tapered rostrum.[219] Genera from the Oligocene and early and middle Miocene, with the possible exception of Aulophyseter, had teeth in their upper jaws.[218] Acrophyseter, from the late Miocene, also had teeth in both the upper and lower jaws as well as a short rostrum and an upward curving mandible (lower jaw).[27] These anatomical differences suggest that fossil species may not have necessarily been deep-sea squid eaters such as the modern sperm whale, but that some genera mainly ate fish.[218] Zygophyseter, dated from the middle to late Miocene and found in southern Italy, had teeth in both jaws and appears to have been adapted to feed on large prey, rather like the modern killer whale (orca). Other fossil sperm whales with adaptations similar to this are collectively known as killer sperm whales.[215]

Two poorly known fossil species belonging to the modern genus Physeter have been recognized so far: P. antiquus (Neogene of France)[221] and P. vetus (Neogene of eastern North America).[222] Physeter vetus is very likely an invalid species, as the few teeth that were used to identify this species appear to be identical to those of another toothed whale, Orycterocetus quadratidens.[223]

Phylogeny

The traditional view has been that Mysticeti (baleen whales) and Odontoceti (toothed whales) arose from more primitive whales early in the Oligocene period, and that the super-family Physeteroidea, which contains the sperm whale, dwarf sperm whale, and pygmy sperm whale, diverged from other toothed whales soon after that, over 23 million years ago.[216][218] From 1993 to 1996, molecular phylogenetics analyses by Milinkovitch and colleagues, based on comparing the genes of various modern whales, suggested that the sperm whales are more closely related to the baleen whales than they are to other toothed whales, which would have meant that Odontoceti were not monophyletic; in other words, it did not consist of a single ancestral toothed whale species and all its descendants.[214] However, more recent studies, based on various combinations of comparative anatomy and molecular phylogenetics, criticised Milinkovitch's analysis on technical grounds and reaffirmed that the Odontoceti are monophyletic.[214][224][225]

These analyses also confirm that there was a rapid evolutionary radiation (diversification) of the Physeteroidea in the Miocene period.[215] The Kogiidae (dwarf and pygmy sperm whales) diverged from the Physeteridae (true sperm whales) at least 8 million years ago.[224]

Relationship with humans

Sperm whaling

Painting of a sperm whale destroying a boat, with other boats in the background
In the 19th century, sperm whales were hunted using rowboats and hand-thrown harpoons, a rather dangerous method, as the whales sometimes fought back.

Spermaceti, obtained primarily from the spermaceti organ, and sperm oil, obtained primarily from the blubber in the body, were much sought after by 18th, 19th, and 20th century whalers. These substances found a variety of commercial applications, such as candles, soap, cosmetics, machine oil, other specialised lubricants, lamp oil, pencils, crayons, leather waterproofing, rust-proofing materials and many pharmaceutical compounds.[226][227][228][229] Ambergris, a highly expensive, solid, waxy, flammable substance produced in the digestive system of sperm whales, was also sought as a fixative in perfumery.

Prior to the early eighteenth century, hunting was mostly by indigenous Indonesians.[230] Legend has it that sometime in the early 18th century, around 1712, Captain Christopher Hussey, while cruising for right whales near shore, was blown offshore by a northerly wind, where he encountered a sperm whale pod and killed one.[231] Although the story may not be true, sperm whales were indeed soon exploited by American whalers. Judge Paul Dudley, in his Essay upon the Natural History of Whales (1725), states that a certain Atkins, 10 or 12 years in the trade, was among the first to catch sperm whales sometime around 1720 off the New England coast.[232]

There were only a few recorded instances during the first few decades (1709–1730s) of offshore sperm whaling. Instead, sloops concentrated on the Nantucket Shoals, where they would have taken right whales or went to the Davis Strait region to catch bowhead whales. By the early 1740s, with the advent of spermaceti candles (before 1743), American vessels began to focus on sperm whales. The diary of Benjamin Bangs (1721–1769) shows that, along with the bumpkin sloop he sailed, he found three other sloops flensing sperm whales off the coast of North Carolina in late May 1743.[233] On returning to Nantucket in the summer 1744 on a subsequent voyage, he noted that "45 spermacetes are brought in here this day," another indication that American sperm whaling was in full swing.[233]

American sperm whaling soon spread from the east coast of the American colonies to the Gulf Stream, the Grand Banks, West Africa (1763), the Azores (1765), and the South Atlantic (1770s). From 1770 to 1775 Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island ports produced 45,000 barrels of sperm oil annually, compared to 8,500 of whale oil.[234] In the same decade, the British began sperm whaling, employing American ships and personnel.[235] By the following decade, the French had entered the trade, also employing American expertise.[235] Sperm whaling increased until the mid-nineteenth century. Spermaceti oil was important in public lighting (for example, in lighthouses, where it was used in the United States until 1862, when it was replaced by lard oil, in turn replaced by petroleum) and for lubricating the machines (such as those used in cotton mills) of the Industrial Revolution. Sperm whaling declined in the second half of the nineteenth century, as petroleum came into broader use. In that sense, petroleum use may be said to have protected whale populations from even greater exploitation.[236][237] Sperm whaling in the 18th century began with small sloops carrying only one or two whaleboats. The fleet's scope and size increased over time, and larger ships entered the fishery. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, sperm whaling ships sailed to the equatorial Pacific, the Indian Ocean, Japan, the coast of Arabia, Australia and New Zealand.[235][238][239] Hunting could be dangerous to the crew, since sperm whales (especially bulls) will readily fight to defend themselves against attack, unlike most baleen whales. When dealing with a threat, sperm whales will use their huge head effectively as a battering ram.[107] Arguably the most famous sperm whale counter-attack occurred on 20 November 1820, when a whale claimed to be about 25.9 metres (85 ft) long rammed and sank the Nantucket whaleship Essex. Only 8 out of 21 sailors survived to be rescued by other ships.[240]

Scrimshaw was the art of engraving on the teeth of sperm whales. It was a way for whalers to pass the time between hunts.

The sperm whale's ivory-like teeth were often sought by 18th- and 19th-century whalers, who used them to produce inked carvings known as scrimshaw. 30 teeth of the sperm whale can be used for ivory. Each of these teeth, up to 20 cm (8 in) and 8 cm (3 in) across, are hollow for the first half of their length. Like walrus ivory, sperm whale ivory has two distinct layers. However, sperm whale ivory contains a much thicker inner layer. Though a widely practised art in the 19th century, scrimshaw using genuine sperm whale ivory declined substantially after the retirement of the whaling fleets in the 1880s.

Modern whaling was more efficient than open-boat whaling, employing steam-powered ships and exploding harpoons. Initially, modern whaling activity focused on large baleen whales, but as these populations were taken, sperm whaling increased. Spermaceti, the fine waxy oil produced by sperm whales, was in high demand. In both the 1941–1942 and 1942–1943 seasons, Norwegian expeditions took over 3,000 sperm whales off the coast of Peru alone. After World War II, whaling continued unabated to obtain oil for cosmetics and high-performance machinery, such as automobile transmissions.

The hunting led to the near-extinction of large whales, including sperm whales, until bans on whale oil use were instituted in 1972. The International Whaling Commission gave the species full protection in 1985, but hunting by Japan in the northern Pacific Ocean continued until 1988.[237]

It is estimated that the historic worldwide population numbered 1,100,000 before commercial sperm whaling began in the early 18th century.[3] By 1880, it had declined by an estimated 29 percent.[3] From that date until 1946, the population appears to have partially recovered as whaling activity decreased, but after the Second World War, the population declined even further, to 33 per cent of the pre-whaling population. Between 184,000 and 236,000 sperm whales were killed by the various whaling nations in the 19th century,[241] while in the 20th century, at least 770,000 were taken, the majority between 1946 and 1980.[242]

Sperm whaling peaked in the 1830s and 1960s.

Sperm whales increase levels of primary production and carbon export by depositing iron-rich faeces into surface waters of the Southern Ocean. The iron-rich faeces cause phytoplankton to grow and take up more carbon from the atmosphere. When the phytoplankton dies, it sinks to the deep ocean and takes the atmospheric carbon with it. By reducing the abundance of sperm whales in the Southern Ocean, whaling has resulted in an extra 2 million tonnes of carbon remaining in the atmosphere each year.[243]

Remaining sperm whale populations are large enough that the species' conservation status is rated as vulnerable rather than endangered.[3] However, the recovery from centuries of commercial whaling is a slow process, particularly in the South Pacific, where the toll on breeding-age males was severe.[244]

Current conservation status

The total number of sperm whales in the world is unknown, but is thought to be in the hundreds of thousands.[3] The conservation outlook is brighter than for many other whales. Commercial whaling has ceased,[3] and the species is protected almost worldwide, though records indicate that in the 11-year period starting from 2000, Japanese vessels have caught 51 sperm whales. Fishermen do not target the creatures sperm whales eat,[3] but long-line fishing operations in the Gulf of Alaska have complained about sperm whales stealing fish from their lines.[165]

Currently, entanglement in fishing nets and collisions with ships represent the greatest threats to the sperm whale population.[11] Other threats include ingestion of marine debris, ocean noise, and chemical pollution.[245] The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) regards the sperm whale as being "vulnerable".[3] The species is listed as endangered on the United States Endangered Species Act.[246]

Sperm whales are listed on Appendix I[247] and Appendix II[247] of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It is listed on Appendix I[247] as this species has been categorized as being in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant proportion of their range and CMS Parties strive towards strictly protecting these animals, conserving or restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them. It is listed on Appendix II[247] as it has an unfavourable conservation status or would benefit significantly from international co-operation organised by tailored agreements. It is also covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) and the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region (Pacific Cetaceans MOU).

The species is protected under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This makes commercial international trade (including in parts and derivatives) prohibited, with all other international trade strictly regulated through a system of permits and certificates.[4]

Cultural importance

Sperm whale teeth necklace from Fiji

Rope-mounted teeth are important cultural objects throughout the Pacific. In New Zealand, the Māori know them as "rei puta"; such whale tooth pendants were rare objects because sperm whales were not actively hunted in traditional Māori society.[248] Whale ivory and bone were taken from beached whales. In Fiji the teeth are known as tabua, traditionally given as gifts for atonement or esteem (called sevusevu), and were important in negotiations between rival chiefs.[249] Friedrich Ratzel in The History of Mankind reported in 1896 that, in Fiji, whales' or cachalots' teeth were the most-demanded article of ornament or value. They occurred often in necklaces.[250] Today the tabua remains an important item in Fijian life. The teeth were originally rare in Fiji and Tonga, which exported teeth, but with the Europeans' arrival, teeth flooded the market and this "currency" collapsed. The oversupply led in turn to the development of the European art of scrimshaw.[251]

Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick is based on a true story about a sperm whale that attacked and sank the whaleship Essex.[252][253] Melville associated the sperm whale with the Bible's Leviathan.[253][254] The fearsome reputation perpetuated by Melville was based on bull whales' ability to fiercely defend themselves from attacks by early whalers, smashing whaling boats and, occasionally, attacking and destroying whaling ships.

In Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the Nautilus fights a group of "cachalots" (sperm whales) to protect a pod of southern right whales from their attacks. Verne portrays them as being savage hunters ("nothing but mouth and teeth").

The sperm whale was designated as the Connecticut state animal by the General Assembly in 1975.[255] It was selected because of its specific contribution to the state's history and because of its present-day plight as an endangered species.[256]

Watching sperm whales

Sperm whales are not the easiest of whales to watch, due to their long dive times and ability to travel long distances underwater. However, due to the distinctive look and large size of the whale, watching is increasingly popular. Sperm whale watchers often use hydrophones to listen to the clicks of the whales and locate them before they surface.[257] Popular locations for sperm whale watching include the town of Kaikoura on New Zealand's South Island, Andenes and Tromsø in Arctic Norway; as well as the Azores, where the continental shelf is so narrow that whales can be observed from the shore,[145][258] and Dominica[259] where a long-term scientific research program, The Dominica Sperm Whale Project, has been in operation since 2005.[260]

Plastic waste

The introduction of plastic waste to the ocean environment by humans is relatively new. From the 1970s, sperm whales have occasionally been found with pieces of plastic in their stomachs.[171][261][262][263]

See also

Notes

References

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Sperm whale: Brief Summary

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The sperm whale or cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia.

The sperm whale is a pelagic mammal with a worldwide range, and will migrate seasonally for feeding and breeding. Females and young males live together in groups, while mature males (bulls) live solitary lives outside of the mating season. The females cooperate to protect and nurse their young. Females give birth every four to twenty years, and care for the calves for more than a decade. A mature sperm whale has no natural predators, although calves and weakened adults are sometimes killed by pods of killer whales (orcas).

Mature males average 16 metres (52 ft) in length, with the head representing up to one-third of the animal's length. Plunging to 2,250 metres (7,382 ft), it is the third deepest diving mammal, exceeded only by the southern elephant seal and Cuvier's beaked whale. The sperm whale uses echolocation and with source level as loud as 236 decibels (re 1 µPa m) underwater. It has the largest brain on Earth, more than five times heavier than a human's. Sperm whales can live 70 years or more.

Spermaceti (sperm oil), from which the whale derives its name, was a prime target of the whaling industry, and was sought after for use in oil lamps, lubricants, and candles. Ambergris, a solid waxy waste product sometimes present in its digestive system, is still highly valued as a fixative in perfumes, among other uses. Beachcombers look out for ambergris as flotsam. Sperm whaling was a major industry in the 19th century, depicted in the novel Moby-Dick. The species is protected by the International Whaling Commission moratorium, and is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

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Diet

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Deep-water squid, including giant squid and larger fish, also sharks and skates.
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Distribution

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in all oceans; Antarctica/Southern Ocean; East Pacific; Eastern Atlantic Ocean; Indo-West Pacific; Western Atlantic Ocean.

Reference

van der Land, J. (ed). (2008). UNESCO-IOC Register of Marine Organisms (URMO).

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Habitat

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oceanic

Reference

van der Land, J. (ed). (2008). UNESCO-IOC Register of Marine Organisms (URMO).

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IUCN Red List Category

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Vulnerable (VU)

Reference

IUCN (2008) Cetacean update of the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

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Morphology

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The enormous (up to 1/3 of total body length), box-like head of the sperm whale sets it apart from all other species.The blowhole slit is S-shaped and positioned forward on the left side of the head. There are 18-28 functional teeth on each side of the lower jaws, but the upper teeth are few, weak and nonfunctional. The lower teeth fit into sockets in the upper jaw. The gullet of is the largest among cetaceans; it is in fact the only gullet large enough to accomodate a human. The dorsal fin is replaced by a hump and a series of longitudinal ridges on the posterior part of the back. The flippers are quite small, approximately 200 cm. long. Tail flukes are 400-450 cm in width. The blubber layer of the sperm whale is quite thick, up to 35 cm. With respect to coloration, males often become paler and sometimes piebald with age. Both sexes have white in the genital and anal regions and on the lower jaws.
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